The Puppet’s Communicative Potential as a Mediating Tool in Preschool Education

Abstract

This article describes a puppet as a mediating tool in early childhood education and the puppet’s communicative properties, potential and use in preschool. In the empirical section, the puppet consists and functions as a starting point for children’s interaction, narratives and different ways of communication. The research interest is directed towards the content of communicative processes where the puppet is present between the teacher and the children, towards children’s ways of expressing the meaning of the puppet, and towards the motives that are generated in the interaction between the puppet and the children in different activities. The overall aim is to generate knowledge of the puppet’s relational, linguistic and action-related potential as a mediating tool for children’s communication and learning in preschool.